That's a pretty good question. I spend most of my time doing client work, so my self-marketing is mostly limited to: 1) Posting code and rants on my blog whene

That's a pretty good question. I spend most of my time doing client work, so my self-marketing is mostly limited to: 1) Posting code and rants on my blog whenever I feel like it 2) Contributing code to open-source projects that I use 3) Chatting with people at the bar or going to tech mixers (also at the bar) 4) Posting on various websites like HN I get about 70% of my client work from #3, 25% or so from word of mouth (friends, family, or past clients), and 5% or so from posting online. #1 is mostly just vanity and #2 is out of necessity, but they probably help too without me directly seeing the effects. I've never advertised or gone trolling for clients since I started freelancing. Also, my company website is terrible and hasn't been updated in about 4 years, but it doesn't seem to matter. I'll get around to it eventually :) Edit: I forgot to mention giving talks at Ruby groups and Ignite and things like that. I've gotten a couple of clients from that but it's mostly just challenging and fun.